AC Milan remain rooted in seventh place after drawing 0-0 with Juventus, all while Paulo Fonseca continues to declare his belief in the Scudetto push.
MilanNews writes that with one third of the season done, one statistic stands out: five wins in 12 games played. There hasn’t been a start as bad as that since under Marco Giampaolo, who at this point in the season had already been replaced by Stefano Pioli.
To find another worse start we have to go back to Pippo Inzaghi in 2014-15. For the record, the Giampaolo-Pioli year ended in sixth place, the one with Inzaghi in 10th place. Fonseca continues to believe in the title but he is the only one at the moment.
Italian football does not tend to see teams make sensational comebacks to win the league. Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus in the 2015-16 season were sixth in the table after 12 games, nine points behind league leaders Inter. They then beat Milan and went on a charge.
After a match in which there was only one shot on target for the Rossoneri, it is hard to think about fighting for the league. The last time Milan had so few shots on target was the 0-0 draw against Juventus on April 27.
The alibi then was that they had just lost the derby that handed the Scudetto to Inter and that the game in Turin was the first of a series of useless matches for a team that had their season ended early.
Last night a very different performance was expected with a very different attitude, yet instead the team never gave the impression of being able to win the match. They remained caged by a cobbled together Juve side that gave the impression of being satisfied with a draw right from the start.
The Bianconeri, further ahead in the standings, were in a position to be able to afford it. The jeers at full-time were the consequence of a frustrating evening, and the acknowledgement that this risks turning into a disastrous league campaign.